MARTINEZ, CAPELLA KNEW ABOUT BEDC SCANDAL...AND DID NOTHING

By Juan Montoya

As early as 2016, Mayor Tony Martinez had been told by the legal counsel of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation that that there had been some "serious allegations about financial improprieties" involving the operation of the under Jason Hilts, the CEO of the Brownsville Economic Development Corporation.

At the time, Mark Sossi, also the city attorney, wrote a letter to all the board members of the GBIC and told them, among other things,

* That he had told Martinez about reports from Brownsville Economic Development Council  staff member Lizzy de la Garza-Putegnat that under CEO Jason Hilts, more than $100,000 were being spent in a Colombia office that was the private residence of Olga Ramos, who was in charge of the operation. Sossi wrote that Putegnat charged that tax payers  of Brownsville were subsidizing her private home.

At that time the BEDC was under consecutive three-year contracts worth nearly $5 million with the GBIC to provide economic development strategies and provide companies incentives to  crrete jobs in the city.

* That Ramos was being paid $50,000 a year when the average monthly salary in Colombia was $692, or six times as much as ($4,116). Putegant said she thought the woman's salary was "excessive."

* That Ramos she was getting paid that much because of her personal relationship with Hilts.

*  That when Sossi told Martinez in his conference room, Martinez told him he had known "for months" about the allegations but he had disregarded them and said Putegnat was a "disgruntled" employee who had psychological problems (anorexia) and that she had an axe to grind against the BEDC.

*That when the GBIC board members was setting up a Performance Review Committee to determine if Putegnat's allegations could be substantiated Sossi found that many of the concerns expressed by Putegant could be factually supported, to varying degrees, by other current BEDC employees.

* Sossi write that he was surprised to learn that both Martinez and Executive Committee chairman Tony Capella had known about the concerns but that for whatever reason, neither meaningfully acted on or relayed to either the GBIC board, the city commission or the Brownsville Police Department.

* When Sossi spoke with BEDC VP Gilbert Salinas the latter expressed reluctance to come forward because it might jeopardize his employment and had to be assured that his comment would remain confidential. Salinas said he had told both Capella and Martinez the same concerns but that neither did anything about them and he was apprehensive about talking to Sossi.

* Salinas then pulled out a lrge sheet of paper and told Sossi he had been keeping notes on these issues for the better part of a year.

"There is also reason to be suspicious of that some of these following events went beyond being reckless, and may have involved criminal activity. This is particularly the case for the forged invoice (for $5,000) which (Hilts) presented to the BEDC for payment for a fictitious Colombian vendor, " Sossi wrote the board.

Among other findings, Sossi wrote that Salias had confirmed that Ramos was getting paid $50,000 a year and that he believed her experience consisted of being an Av on salesperson in Colombia.

Sossi reported that Salinas told him that at one time Hilts presented a medical bill for Ms. Ramos for payment by BEDC.

* That when Capella and Salinas checked out Putegnat's charge that the BEDC Colombian office was actually Ramos' private residence on Google Earth, Capella was surprised and said "It's a house."

* That Salinas had become suspicious when Hilts presented a $5,000 invoice for a company which had provided no services to the BEDC in a period of years. Hilts wanted the BEDC to wire the $5,000 to the Colombian BEDC office and have them pay it through there.

Also, when the owner of the company (Colombia Skype) was called he declared it was not his company and that the invoice was a forgery and offered to call the Colombian police. At that time Capella told the owner in front of BEDC employee that it wouldn't be necessary and that it would be handled by the BEDC from this end.

When Capella presented the invoice to Hilts, he said that he was going to terminate Ramos because of the forgery. However, Sossi noted that Hilts had told Salinas the reason he had terminated Ramos was because of the rumors of the two having a sexual relationship.

Sossi also wrote the board that the woman had apparently served Hilts with a legal notice over her termination, but that the former CEO had kept the letter did not make any copies for the BEDC.

Sossi believed the letter was a demand letter threatening litigation but that this was never communicated to either BEDC board or the city commission.

Just a few months before the letter was written by Sossi for the GBIC board, Martinez and Capella and Hilts traveled to Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey on a so-called "prospect visit." As far as anyone at the GBIC or the BEDC executive committee can recall, the "prospect" jaunt didn't yield any jobs for Brownsville residents.

And both men had already been told about Hilts, the Colombian office, its manager's inappropriate relationship with him , and her tthe fake $5,000 invoice and did nothing. Instead, they allowed the situation to fester until the GBIC terminated the contract with the BEDC following the Performance Review Committee and accompanied him on the junket compliments of the Brownsville taxpayers.de